(Reuters) -Olympic wrestling champion Gable Steveson will make his mixed martial arts debut next month, the latest turn in a winding career path that has seen the American compete in pro wrestling and sign for a National Football League (NFL) team.
Steveson, who won a gold medal in the super heavyweight category at the Tokyo Olympics four years ago, will fight in a Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) event on September 12 in a heavyweight bout with Braden Peterson in Minnesota.
A number of Olympic wrestlers including Henry Cejudo and Daniel Cormier have successfully made the shift into MMA, in which grappling is a key component.
“The ultimate goal for me is to be the best of the best,” Steveson told LFA in an interview on Wednesday.
“You see guys like Jon Jones, you see Conor McGregor, you see Khamzat Chimaev, you see Daniel Cormier. You see guys that have come from a wrestling background that have made it big in this sport.
“I want to be one of those guys too.”
The 25-year-old signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) shortly after his triumph at the Tokyo Games, appearing several times on the company’s programming before being released in 2024.
A two-time heavyweight National Collegiate Athletic Association champion at the University of Minnesota, he was also signed by the NFL’s Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent defensive tackle in May last year.
He was released three months later after failing to make the cut for the team’s 53-man roster.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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